T-Mobile Asserts Charitable Startup Lemonade Infringes Magenta Mark
November 26, 2019
National Public Radio (NPR) reports T-Mobile has sent a cease and desist letter to startup Lemonade. For those unfamiliar with Lemonade, Lemonade is a public
benefit corporation quickly growing in popularity, particularly with millennials, because the company donates all unclaimed money to charities of the
policyholder’s choice.
T-Mobile asserts Lemonade’s use of a color allegedly similar to Magenta.......
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Generic.com: SCOTUS to Consider Whether a Top-Level Domain Creates a Protectable Trademark
November 15, 2019
Much to the chagrin of companies such as Bayer, DuPont, Westinghouse, and Motorola—former owners of trademark rights in, respectively, the terms
“aspirin,” “cellophane,” “laundromat,” and “flip phone”— U.S. law does not protect terms that identify the general nature of a product or service
itself rather than the source thereof, or “generic” terms, as trademarks. What if, however, these .......
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IP Post-Brexit: What Does the "FEUture" hold?
November 06, 2019
Julie L. Spieker
On December 12, the United Kingdom (UK) will hold a general election, in which Prime Minister Boris Johnson hopes to secure a clear majority so as not
to lose the prospect of Brexit after failing to leave the European Union (EU) by the end of October as previously promised. Currently, Johnson enjoys
a healthy lead in the polls which raises the question: what is the impact of Brexit on int.......
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Halloween Edition: Copyright for Banana Costume is upheld on A-Peel
October 30, 2019
The Third Circuit recently held that a banana costume qualified for copyright protection as Rasta Imposta, a retail wholesaler of Halloween costumes, sued
Kangaroo Manufacturing, a costume manufacturer, for copyright infringement, trade dress infringement, and unfair competition after Rasta discovered
Kangaroo selling a banana costume that resembled one of Rasta’s costumes without a license. The costumes.......
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If You Pop, You Better Stop
October 18, 2019
In the latest battle of branding, the Italian government has confiscated approximately 250 tubes of the “Prosecco & Pink Peppercorn” flavored Pringles
from several grocery stores in the Veneto region. The Prosecco flavored Pringles were seized on the grounds that the use of the term “Prosecco” was
allegedly not approved by the wine’s consortium of Italy. The name Prosecco has been protected by the De.......
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Faster Patent Application Examinations for 2019
October 11, 2019
The US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has been working for many years to improve patent examination times. Processing and examining patent applications
in a high quality and timely manner has been an important aspect of the USPTO 2018-2022 Strategic Plan.
For the 2019 fiscal year ending in September, the USPTO has met their goal for patent prosecution timelines. Specifically, average tota.......
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Trademarks: Property Plus Insurance
October 11, 2019
Intellectual property is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. It is widely accepted patents, copyrights, and
trademarks confer an exclusive right. Unlike patents and copyrights, the constitutional foundation for trademark law is the Commerce Clause, U.S. Const.,
Art. I, § 8, cl. 3, rather than the Intellectual Property Clause, U.S. Const., Art. I. § 8, cl. 8.
.......
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US Courts Tripping over TRIPS
October 09, 2019
This summer, the Australian Federal Court went the other way in Sequenom, Inc. v. Ariosa Diagnostics, Inc. than the US, finding that the method
of detecting fetal DNA in maternal blood to be eligible subject matter and that the patent was valid and infringed. While the Federal Circuit described
the invention as “truly meritorious” and “ground breaking”, they found it to be invalid because it was directed.......
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Walking Alone: Liverpool FC Fails to Obtain Namesake Trademark
October 05, 2019
English Premier League soccer club Liverpool FC may have scraped by with a victory against Sheffield United last weekend, but that luck does not appear to have extended to the U.K. Intellectual Property Office.
Earlier this year, the club announced that it had submitted an application with the IPO to register LIVERPOOL as a trademark in a variety of classes for soccer (well, “football”)-related goods and s.......
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